The
reason we even think about a Spiritual Master is because we want to Realize Something
Great Spiritually (such as Perfect, Eternal Happiness). And we have some sense

despite the neurotic over-emphasis of our "modern" time on individualism
and anti-authoritarianism 
that a Spiritual Master may (even these days) play a central role in the attainment
of such a Spiritual Realization.

The
nature of Spiritual Realization, then, is
a good place to begin our discussion of Spiritual Masters. What Spiritual Realizations
are possible? How does Spiritual Realization relate to ordinary views of human
potential? What is the ultimate Spiritual Realization? Is there such a thing?
And if the ultimate Spiritual Realization is our aim, it is very good to know
the final destination before setting out, both in order to choose a vessel capable
of getting us there, and to avoid sidetracks (leading to lesser Realizations)
that prolong the journey, even indefinitely.

And
so, by way of comparison, we will first sample some conventional views of human
potential and destiny, and then lay out the Ultimate Destiny.

Realization
also involves a deepening in self-understanding and self-transcendence
Shift in identity goes hand in hand with greater self-understanding, since it
is the unconscious activity of self-contraction that is keeping one locked into
one's currently limited identity. One's identity, one's sense of "self",
will never change unless one understands how one is artificially (and unnecessarily)
creating the sense of self through the activity of self-contraction.

Realization
involves discriminating, in feeling, between "God" and (the activity of) "self"
We could never discover the activity of self-contraction (that creates our limited
sense of self) without the contrasting Presence of the Divine Self. It is only
by way of that contrast, between Bright and dark, between the Limitless and the
limited, between the Happy and the un-Happy, that we discover, first, the incredible
limit that "self" represents on the scale of our ultimate potential; second,
the capacity to feel to, through, and beyond the "self" sensations to God; and
third, the nature of self as activity that can be transcended.

The
highest human potential is God-Realization (see The
Nature of Spiritual Realization), the complete awakening from this "dream"
of limited existence, as
the One in Whose Consciousness the dream is arising. And the way to perfect Realization
of God is through a moment-to-moment process of communing with God, by feeling
God and self, and feeling beyond self to God.

But
how does one find and feel Godfor
real? All the wisdom traditions of humankind point to a single
answer: we locate God through the Transmission of a Spiritual Master. So the "how"
of Realizing God actually has a simple answer: find a genuine Spiritual Master
and become a devotee of His or Her Spiritual Transmission.

The
Need For a Spiritual Teacher—
There are so many ways to misinterpret what we are experiencing, and to get stuck
at some point, and fail to grow further for lack of an accurate and complete roadmap.

The
Need for a Spiritual Transmission Master—
The genuine process of Spiritual practice has been so carefully guarded by the
esoteric circles in which it was practiced, that few people are aware nowadays
that the primary function of the Spiritual Master is not to "rap out" a Teaching
or philosophy, but to Transmit the Revelation of the Divine, to literally communicate
the Nature of Reality via the vessel of their own body-mind.

The
Life of Genuine Spiritual Practice

This
site is intended to inspire you to seriously consider a life of genuine Spiritual
practice, a lifetime devoted to finding (and Spiritually communing with) Real
God, instead of a lifetime spent believing, disbelieving, or doubting God.

Make
no mistake about it, though: true Spiritual practice is difficult! When an Irresistable
Force —
as is Real God —
meets an immovable object —
for such is the ego —
“something’s gotta give”,
as the old Cole Porter song said, providing its own answer to the ancient theological
puzzler. The ultimate outcome, the ultimate victory of God, is inevitable. But
whether the course will be brief, or measured in astronomical units of time, depends
completely on each of us: our awareness of the Great Opportunity, and our response
to It.

It is
certainly good to enter the course without presumptuousness about one’s own Spiritual
capabilities. Such presumptuousness has always been one of the primary pitfalls
of beginners. Spiritual authorities throughout the ages, from Teresa
of Avila, to John of the
Cross, to Chögyam Trungpa,
warn newcomers to take heed of and renounce such presumptuousness. Even so, it
may take a few years —a little more self-effort,
a little more suffering, and a little more awareness of our own impending death
(perhaps through the body showing the inevitable signs of age) —before we are in the right
beginner’s disposition of genuine, heart-felt need for Real God, humbled by our
own sweat and our own limited condition.

The
Revelation of Real God is the greatest gift possible in a human life. That the
steady, unrelenting Revelation of God, virtually unheard of in recorded human
history, is accessible with a
potency limited only by the depth of one’s self-understanding, is utterly extraordinary;
it is a salvatory and liberating Communication grounded in the Force of Reality
Itself. How can we not take advantage of such a Graceful opportunity, while it
is still available?

How
to enter into a liberating spiritual relationship with a contemporary Spiritual
Master of the greatest kind: